News of: Saturday, 31st of October, 2009

Front Page

The ruling Awami League has seldom consulted with its grand alliance partners for taking any decision although the parties pledged before the parliamentary polls to work in unison for good governance and a strong democracy.

The National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), the largest cancer hospital in the country, is now limping due to lack of useful medical equipment and shortage of manpower much to the woes and worries of patients, especially the poor ones.

EU leaders have agreed to enter world climate talks arguing that poorer nations will need 100 billion euros a year by 2020 to tackle global warming, but failed to set levels for Europe's contribution, a draft text said Friday.

The Daily Star has received a three-page protest letter signed by Khandaker Delwar Hossain, secretary general of BNP, regarding our report headlined "Aug 21 Attack on Hasina, AL Rally: It was Hawa Bhaban Plot" published on October 27. The Daily Star will publish the rejoinder along with its reply tomorrow.

Tigers will be looking to take the lead today when they take on an ailing Zimbabwe side in the third match of the Grameenphone ODI Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in another day-night affair. Tigers are on a high after bouncing back tremendously from a shock 5-wicket loss in the opening match with a thumping 7-wicket victory in the second ODI to square the series 1-1 on Thursday.

Editorial

THE Dhaka Metropolitan Police launched a three-day special drive on Wednesday to tackle criminality in the nation's capital. There are a couple of ways in which the drive can be looked at. In the first place, it is a welcome move for the important reason that when citizens are face to face with lawlessness, it is the social order which threatens to get frayed. In the second, the launch of the drive is an acknowledgement by the police that all is not well where security of life is concerned in this metropolis. It is now to be seen whether the drive yields any perceptible success or is merely one of those exercises that begin with a bang and end in a whimper. Besides, one is not quite sure that a three-day special drive will do what normal police activities have not done in the past. Again, it is a sign of how bad things have become that the police now must go for special drives against criminal elements, over and above their normal work.

SOME government ministries, departments and agencies have an inherent potential to be useful in the task of creating awareness among the people against militancy. They need to be self-activated given their contact with the people to be playing their due role here. For, in the ultimate analysis, it is at the community level that extremist agenda feeding on exploitation of religion are best countered, fought off. People's awareness of ways and threats of militancy, their vigilance over these and cooperation with law-enforcement agencies provide the most effective safeguards against attempted extremist inroads into a society.

THE Tipaimukh controversy spurred a wave of protests that highlighted a kind of ineptness and indecision of the government for too long a period on a vital matter for our survival. It also focused the confusion that existed in our foreign policy objectives from the beginning, particularly after the SAARC was set up with a set of lofty ambitions much of which remained unfulfilled over the last decade and a half.

THE late nineties reaffirmed to the world that China had arrived in a big way on the international economic horizon. This development was seen as a success story in many countries in Africa and Asia. They discerned in this a potential for their own growth.

Sports

The imposing comeback victory in the second match definitely gave the Bangladesh team ample confidence to take advantage in the five-match series when they meet Zimbabwe in the third day-night one-dayer at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.

Holders Abahani and title contenders Mohammedan both won against Feni Soccer Club and Shuktara Jubo Sangsad of Narayanganj respectively with identical 1-0 margins in their first away matches of the Bangladesh League yesterday.

Uttam Sarker scored the first century of the season to guide Cricket Coaching School (CCS) to a comfortable 9-wicket victory over Partex Sporting Club in their opening match of the Premier Division Cricket League at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium yesterday. In a surprising result of the day, title-contenders Gazi Tank went down to Old DOHS by 44 runs at BKSP, while Biman got their mission off to a flyer with a 7-wicket victory over BKSP at Fatullah.

The inter-club players transfer for the Premier Division Hockey League ended yesterday at the Maulana Bhasani National Stadium with 12 players competing their registration formalities on the final day of the month-long bourse.

Brett Lee, the Australian fast bowler, has been ruled out of the remainder of the ODI series in India because of an elbow injury and will fly back home. He is in doubt for the home Test series against West Indies as well.

It has been called Real Madrid's most humiliating defeat ever in the local media with Tuesday's 4-0 first leg Cup thrashing by third division Alcorcon giving coach Manuel Pellegrini and his Real stars food for thought ahead of Saturday's home derby with Getafe.

Barisal Veterinary Institute under Patuakhali University of Science and Technology (PSTU) will reopen on November 5, around two months after its closure on September 2 following widespread agitation by students on the campus.

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday called on the government to introduce compulsory military education both at primary and secondary levels to make children prepared for combating any threat to the sovereignty and independence of Bangladesh.

Chittagong University (CU), the country's only hillside university, often attracts tourists for its geographical location, but its students find it hard to shuttle from the port city to the campus everyday just for lack of adequate transport facilities.

A Tk 18 crore project will start soon for the development the Barisal river port removing uncertainty over the implementation of the port development project after procrastination of over a century since 1964.

Speakers at a view exchange meeting yesterday demanded state declaration for observing February 1 as the Bangla Sign Language Day to ensure rights of the hearing-impaired citizens, says a press release.

International

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came face-to-face yesterday with Pakistani anger over US aerial drone attacks in tribal areas along the Afghan border, a strategy that US officials say has succeeded in killing key terrorist leaders.

Representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government that could help end the monthslong dispute over Honduras' June 28 coup, and possibly pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement.

In the run up to the first anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the US has issued a travel alert on India saying Washington “continues to receive information that terrorist groups may be planning attacks in India”.

The nonprofit body that oversees Internet addresses approved yesterday the use of Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and other scripts not based on the Latin alphabet in a decision that could make the Web dramatically more inclusive.

A court in northwest Pakistan on Friday directed police to declare former President Pervez Musharraf a "proclaimed offender" and confiscate his property if he failed to cooperate with the probe into the whereabouts of a man allegedly detained by security agencies during his tenure.

Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a guerrilla war.

Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis was removed from office by the Haitian Senate shortly after midnight Friday, in a move that could imperil efforts to attract foreign investment to the storm-wracked, impoverished country.

Arts & Entertainment

Kumar Shri Sachin Dev Burman (October 1, 1906 - October 31, 1975), also credited as 'Burman da' or 'Sachin karta', was one of the most celebrated music composers for Hindi movies and a Bengali singer and composer. Burman composed music for 100 movies, including Bengali films.

One of the leading cultural organisations of the country, Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Goshthi has turned 41. On the occasion Udichi held a colourful programme at TSC auditorium, University of Dhaka on October 29.

The latest instalment of Bengal Foundation's regular musical soiree "Praner Khela" was held on October 29 at its Gallery in Dhanmondi. Noted singer Naquib Khan and talented singer-composer Tanveer Alam Shawjeeb performed at the programme.

OP-ED

WITH the Copenhagen climate conference due in December next, Tim Flannery, chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council cautioned last September: "If climate talks between more than 100 heads of states at the UN General Assembly fail, it could have devastating consequences." Tim was probably right when he said success in New York, with major economies like US, China and India demonstrating willingness and leadership, could pave the way for an effective agreement in Copenhagen. Failure could be the prelude to climate wars in 10 years time. Not addressing this issue, which affects the daily lives of people all over the planet, would be extremely risky and would, as Tim thinks, lead to wars over water, land, immigration and trade.

BANGLADESH is transiting through a period of political (mainly social, cultural and economic) evolution through a complex and unstable process. We missed a few opportunities to bring real change to our country's politics and overall status. Still, we struggle to come out from the vicious cycle of poverty. The present government created some hype and high expectations that things will change and we will achieve our long-cherished goal of dignity and economic solvency. This vision was reflected in the government's election manifesto of building a digital Bangladesh by 2021.

WITH every election, democracy is undoubtedly deepening in India. But it is also exposing the system's limitations. True, the frequency of polls is at regular intervals. It is also true that the voters are free to exercise their ballot and walk up to the polling booths on their own and on their free will. Yet, it is equally true that elections have been reduced to an exercise to grab power -- the power which has itself become an end by itself, not an opportunity to serve or perform. Three traits are recognizable: criminals, money bags and defeat of women candidates.

Environment

THE government (ministry of agriculture) has programme for national food security where the main sub-sectors/components of agriculture are covered. One important component is how to increase food production by small/minor irrigation in suitable topography and soils. This involves construction of small dams and reservoirs, excavation of canals, drainage of swamps for agricultural use, constructing embakments, tanks and ponds on river beds or abandoned rivers or dry areas for rainwater harvesting for use in lean period for irrigation as well as water supply in the water-hungry, parched lands particularly in SW and NW regions. Apart from food production, the projects will help combat drought and desertification and climate change impacts and create congenial environment with numerous water bodies formed by the projects.

Burning of fossil fuels is one of the fundamental causes, if not the only cause, of various environmental disturbances world wide including the most disturbing 'Global Warming and Climate Change'. The burning of fossil fuel brings back the locked carbon in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas. We might have stopped burning fossil fuels if we could. But the lifestyle of millions and millions of people is directly linked to the use of fossil fuels. Transportation, production of industrial goods and our wellbeing in apartments, all need energy derived from fossil fuels. But our dependency on fossil fuels is gradually becoming the cause of decline of the planet earth itself.

Literature

Sukumar Ray died young, too young for our liking you might say. Born in 1887, he saw his life draw to an end in 1923. But then, considering the vast repertoire of intellectual accomplishments he has left behind, you just might feel you really ought to have little cause for complaint. His all too brief life was lived in the fullness of creation. How many others can you cite, off the top of your head, who achieved as much as Sukumar Ray? Yes, there have been poets --- Keats, Chatterton, Sukanto, Abul Hasan --- who were to pass on even before they could graduate out of youth and into a higher degree of maturity. They made their own contributions to poetry, indeed to aesthetics. But Ray was of a different class altogether. Talent was all and, with that, a ferocious capacity for work.

Ketu Katrak, Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), is affiliated with the Departments of English and Comparative Literature. Katrak was the Founding Chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at UCI (1996-2004). Author of Politics Of The Female Body: Postcolonial Women Writers, Wole Soyinka And Modern Tragedy: A Study Of Dramatic Theory And Practice, among other co-edited books and essays published in journals such as Modern Fiction Studies, South Asian Popular Culture, Amerasia, Ms. Katrak was guest speaker recently at a talk organized by the English Department of Independent University Bangladesh (IUB).

Star Health

“The objective to mark the World Pneumonia Day is to reduce the gap in the availability of vaccines and other treatment supports between developed and developing countries. Policy makers should consider preventive measures as the right of the children rather than privilege.”Dr Samir Saha,Executive Director of Child Health Research Foundation

Stroke is a major cause of long term disabilities and premature deaths. Stroke ranks second to ischemic heart disease as a cause of death; it is also a leading cause of serious disability, sparing no age, sex, ethnic origin, or country. Experts urged to raise awareness level and early treatment to prevent the growing epidemic and lessen the disabilities due to this. If nothing is done, the predicted number of people who will die from stroke will increase to 6.7 million each year by 2015.

Besides the communicable diseases like diarrhoea, pneumonia, mumps etc., congenital heart diseases are still a leading contributing factor that increase the death toll of children. In Bangladesh, approximately 25,000 to 30,000 children born with congenital heart diseases and 90 percent of these children die before their 5th birthday. But the treatment facilities for the large number of children are still very poor and relatively under-focused.

In order to discuss the current Rabies burden in Bangladesh, Obhoyaronno — an Animal Welfare Society in collaboration with Directorate General of Health Services under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare held a multi-stakeholder conference recently at the SASAKAWA Auditorium of ICDDR,B — says a press release.

Strategic Issues

SOUTH Asian security is a concept which is often discussed in different circles, but without much seriousness. Not that importance is not attached to the idea or it is largely disapproved; it is because the subject may appear as somewhat premature to many for understandable reasons. This may even sound unpractical for a variety of factors because the matter is all about security and that too in a region like South Asia on a collective basis, a region that is bedeviled by differences and disputes.

FOREIGN Minister Dipu Moni, while addressing a gathering of Bangladeshi labour attaches in Dhaka recently, expressed her disappointment and frustration at the state of affairs in Bangladesh embassies where lack of cooperation between the Ambassador and different wings has jeopardized the labour market for expatriates. The Foreign Minister was absolutely correct on what she said. However, she has scratched the surface of a problem that is much deeper. In blaming the missions for lack of cooperation and coordination, the Minister has focused on the effect of an irrational system the cause of which is the way our foreign policy is articulated, coordinated and implemented at home.

THE recent suicide attacks in Iran killed at least 42 people including five senior commanders of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and some tribal leaders, dozens others were wounded in two bombings in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The attack took place in the city of Pishin, near the border with Pakistan, where the IRGC commanders were on their way to a meeting with local elders of the Shia and Sunni communities to reduce the tension between the two. IRGC Ground Forces Deputy Commander and Province Commander Sistan-Baluchistan, Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh were among those who lost their lives in the attack. The attacks on 18 October 2009 have deepened tensions between Iran and Western countries, particularly the United States and Britain. The attack was also a test for Pakistan, though relations between the two countries have been generally good in recent years.

Star Books Review

A huge rolled-in canvas remains suspended for how long only time can tell. But once it starts rolling out, one is face to face with a wondrous panoramic view of a great city that used to be called Constantinople, after the name of the founder of the city, the Roman Emperor Constantine, who made it his new capital that also was known as new Rome. The city later came to be known as Istanbul. That constitutes not only the background but also the prime subject of the Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk, who creates an enchanting tale on it as a memoir, judged rather unconventionally as a travelogue. While reading Istanbul, one wonders if one is going through the expressions in words or witnessing a vastly laid out ornamental piece of painting done most intricately. Pamuk is a painter too, a field in which he excelled in his school days that turned out to be one of his greatest joys and also a kind of escapism when in doubt and also in trouble. He remembers his encounters with his mother, whom he recalls throughout the book and who discouraged him from taking up painting as a profession because of it obviously not being a life economically reassuring and also because an artist had much less social acceptability in terms of prestige.

25 Years of BIIS: An Anthology is a salutation to the first quarter of a century of the institution's existence. Out of some five hundred articles that have been published over the years since 1980 (BIISS was formed in 1978) in various issues of BIISS Journal, just thirteen were selected for inclusion in the book under review. In justifying their choice, the editors reveal the basis on which it was done: consideration of important themes like national security of Bangladesh, security and regional cooperation in South Asia, regional and international strategic environment in the post-Cold War era, and Indo-Bangladesh relations.

Irene Sabatini's deceptive narration in this haunting novel lures the reader in slowly, slowlycoiling like a snake about to spring. By the time you realize that she's mesmerized you, it's too late. You're hooked on Sabatini's superb narrative skills and there's nothing to do but read faster and faster. The Boy Next Door is unlike any other novel that I have read about Southern Africa, let alone Zimbabwe the story's setting.

Rare are masters in the literary world who can, with their pen and sleight of hand, paint the vignettes of life and make their readers commiserate with their characters. Rarer are those worked by such rare masters, which can give a vicarious feel of every single emotion ever defined and experienced by men. Erich Segal and his Love Story unequivocally qualify for such rare distinctions.